JP6544168B2 - Vehicle control device and vehicle control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control apparatus and a vehicle control method for selecting a preceding vehicle traveling ahead in the traveling direction of the own vehicle from other vehicles existing around the own vehicle.

  Heretofore, ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) has been realized which causes the preceding vehicle to follow the preceding vehicle by selecting the preceding vehicle from other vehicles existing around the own vehicle ahead in the traveling direction of the own vehicle. The ACC performs acceleration / deceleration control so that the distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle becomes constant in order to make the own vehicle follow the selected preceding vehicle. In addition, when there is no preceding vehicle, control is performed to keep the speed of the vehicle constant so that the speed set by the driver, the speed limit of the road, and the like.

  There is a vehicle control device described in Patent Document 1 as to the ACC. In the vehicle control device of Patent Document 1, it is determined whether or not another vehicle is present on the own lane using the own lane probability map indicating the own lane probability which is the probability of being present in the own lane. In this own lane probability map, the value of the highest own lane probability is set in a region near the vertical axis passing the center of the own vehicle, and the value of the own lane probability is set smaller as going in the lateral direction. In addition, the lane width is estimated based on the forward image from the image processing apparatus, the own lane map is offset according to the lane width, and the left lane probability map and the right lane probability map are provided. By using the left lane probability map and the right lane map, the probability that another vehicle exists in the left lane and the probability that it exists in the right lane can be obtained.

JP 2001-93098 A

  Since the vehicle control device described in Patent Document 1 detects a traveling section line by imaging a road ahead of the host vehicle, detection of the traveling section line may be difficult in rainy weather, back light, nighttime, etc. is there. If the traveling lanes can not be detected, it is difficult to accurately select the leading vehicle in the right lane and the leading vehicle in the left lane. In addition, it is necessary to mount an imaging device, an image processing device, and the like for recognizing a traveling division line, which leads to an increase in cost. In addition, when the own lane probability is used, the value of the own lane probability for the vehicle located at the center of the lane is high, and the value of the own lane probability of the vehicle traveling at the end of the lane is low. Therefore, it may be determined that the other vehicle traveling at the end of the lane is not the leading vehicle.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its main object is to provide a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method capable of accurately selecting a preceding vehicle in an adjacent lane.

  The present invention is a vehicle control apparatus, and acquires, for another vehicle traveling around the vehicle, a relative distance from the vehicle and a lateral position which is a relative position in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the vehicle. The vehicle navigation system further includes: a position acquisition unit; and a preceding vehicle selection unit for selecting a preceding vehicle, which is a vehicle traveling ahead in the traveling direction of the own vehicle, of the other vehicles in the lane adjacent to the lane where the own vehicle travels. The preceding vehicle selecting unit selects, as the preceding vehicle, one of the other vehicles whose lateral position is within a predetermined upper and lower limit value and in which the relative distance from the own vehicle is the smallest.

  In the above configuration, when selecting the preceding vehicle in the adjacent lane, the vehicle whose lateral position is within the upper and lower limit values is the target of selection, so other vehicles traveling in a lane farther than the adjacent lane It is possible to accurately select the preceding vehicle in the adjacent lane without determining that the other vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane is traveling in the adjacent lane. In addition, since the vehicle with the smallest relative distance to the vehicle is selected as the preceding vehicle, the other vehicle is the preceding vehicle when the other vehicle with the smallest relative distance travels near the end of the adjacent lane, etc. It can prevent the situation where it is not selected.

It is a schematic block diagram of a vehicle control device. It is a figure explaining the process which selects the preceding vehicle of an adjacent lane. It is a figure explaining the process which selects the preceding car of an adjacent lane in, when a vehicle exists in a self-lane and a distant lane. It is a flowchart which shows a series of processes which a vehicle control apparatus performs. It is a subroutine of preceding vehicle selection processing.

  A vehicle control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The vehicle control device has an ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) function, and causes the vehicle to follow so that the detected distance to another vehicle becomes a target value of the inter-vehicle distance according to the vehicle speed. In addition, when another vehicle is not detected, control is performed such that the vehicle speed set as the target value is obtained.

  In FIG. 1, a vehicle control device 10 is a computer provided with a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O, and the like. The vehicle control device 10 realizes these functions by the CPU executing a program installed in the ROM.

  The vehicle is provided with a radar device 21 as a distance measuring device. The radar device 21 is a detection device that transmits an electromagnetic wave as a transmission wave and receives an reflected wave to detect an object, and is configured by a millimeter wave radar in the present embodiment. The radar device 21 is attached to the front of the vehicle, and scans a region extending over a range of a predetermined angle toward the front of the vehicle about the optical axis by a radar signal. In this scanning, an object present in a range of about 200 m from the vehicle is detected. Then, distance measurement data is created based on the time from transmission of the electromagnetic wave toward the front of the vehicle to reception of the reflected wave, and the created distance measurement data is sequentially output to the vehicle control device 10. The distance measurement data includes information on the direction in which the object is present, the distance to the object, and the relative velocity.

  The locus generation unit 11 of the vehicle control device 10 acquires the relative position from the radar device 21 a predetermined number of times or more in a predetermined cycle, and generates a traveling locus of another vehicle based on the relative position. At this time, if the number of times of acquisition of the relative position is smaller than a predetermined number of times, it is determined that the traveling locus can not be generated. When the number of times of acquisition of the relative position is smaller than the predetermined number of times, there may be a case where another vehicle enters the detection range of the radar device 21 due to a lane change or the like. Also, for targets that have not moved in the same direction as the host vehicle using the vehicle speed of the host vehicle and the relative speed of the target, for example, oncoming vehicles, vehicles stopped on the road shoulder, road structures, etc. It excludes from the generation object of the running track.

  The position acquisition unit 12 obtains a vertical distance, which is a distance to another vehicle in the traveling direction of the own vehicle, based on the current position of the own vehicle and the other vehicle. In addition, based on the trajectory generated by the trajectory generation unit 11, a lateral position, which is a relative distance to the current position of the vehicle, is determined in the lateral direction which is a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the vehicle. The lateral position is determined as the distance between the current position of the vehicle and the trajectory at a point where the vertical position of the trajectory is the current position of the vehicle. The current position of the vehicle is assumed to be the center of the vehicle (a point that is the center in each of the vertical and horizontal directions). Further, the current position of another vehicle is a point detected by the radar device 21 at the rear end of the other vehicle. In addition, since the radar apparatus 21 is provided at the front end of the vehicle, the current position of the vehicle may be set at the center in the left-right direction at the front end of the vehicle.

  The preceding vehicle selection unit 13 is a preceding vehicle in the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling (the own lane), a preceding vehicle in the lane on the right side of the own lane (the right lane), and a preceding vehicle. The left lane leading vehicle which is the leading vehicle in the left lane (left lane) of the lane is respectively selected. When the host vehicle is traveling in the leftmost lane, the vehicle leading the left lane is not selected, and when the host vehicle travels in the rightmost lane, the vehicle leading the right lane is not selected. . Further, when the host vehicle is traveling on a road with one lane on one side, neither the left lane leading vehicle nor the right lane leading vehicle is selected. In addition, the right lane leading vehicle and the left lane leading vehicle can be collectively referred to as an adjacent leading vehicle.

  The follow-up control unit 14 transmits control commands to the engine 31 and the brake 32 so as to keep the distance to the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle constant. Specifically, when the inter-vehicle distance to the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle decreases, a command to decrease the torque is transmitted to the engine 31 to perform deceleration. When the inter-vehicle distance to the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle increases, a command to increase the torque is transmitted to the engine 31 to perform deceleration. In addition, when the inter-vehicle distance to the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle rapidly decreases, a command to make the fuel injection amount zero is sent to the engine 31 and a command to operate the brake 32 is issued. In addition, when the road is a curved section, the control command is transmitted to the steering 33 so as to follow the trajectory of the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle.

  When the lane change unit 15 receives a lane change instruction from the driver, the lane change unit 15 transmits a control instruction to the steering 33 to perform steering control. At this time, if the distance between the adjacent preceding vehicle and the vehicle is less than the predetermined value, or if the relative speed in the approaching direction exceeds the predetermined value, lane change is not performed or sufficient deceleration is performed in the vehicle. Change lanes after being hit.

  When the lane change unit 15 performs lane change control, the follow-up control unit 14 changes the follow target to an adjacent preceding vehicle, and the engine 31 and the brake 32 so that the distance to the changed follow target becomes constant. Send control command to At this time, the lane may be changed by the driver's operation of the steering 33. In this case as well, as in the case of the automatic steering, the engine 31 and the brake are controlled so that the distance to the changed follow object becomes constant. Send control command to 32.

  The follow-up control unit 14 controls the vehicle speed based on the vehicle speed set by the driver, the speed limit of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and the like when there is no vehicle ahead of the host vehicle. Similarly, even when there is no adjacent preceding vehicle when the lane change is performed, the vehicle speed control is similarly performed.

  In this follow-up control, if the adjacent preceding vehicle is selected by mistake, the distance to other vehicles not selected as the adjacent preceding vehicle should not be reduced more than necessary when changing lanes, or the lane should not be changed Depending on the situation, control of lane change may be initiated.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the preceding vehicle selection unit 13 performs preceding vehicle selection control in order to suppress erroneous selection of an adjacent preceding vehicle. The preceding vehicle selection control will be described with reference to FIG. The lane in which the vehicle 40 travels in FIG. 2 is the own lane 50, and the lane adjacent to the own lane 50 is the adjacent lane 51. In the adjacent lane 51, the other vehicle 41 and the other vehicle 42 travel in the same direction as the own vehicle 40. The other vehicle 41 travels near the end of the adjacent lane 51, and the other vehicle 42 travels near the center of the adjacent lane 51. In addition, since the other vehicle 41 and the other vehicle 42 are drive | working ahead of the advancing direction of the own vehicle 40, you may call it a preceding vehicle.

  The radar device 21 acquires the rear end portions of the other vehicles 41 and 42 as the current position 41a and the current position 42a, respectively. The current position 41a and the current position 42a are accumulated as traveling positions in a time series over a predetermined period, and by connecting the traveling positions of the other vehicles 41 and 42 where the trajectory generation unit 11 is accumulated, the other vehicles 41, A locus 41 b and a locus 42 b are generated for each of the lines 42. With respect to the trajectories 41b and 42b, horizontal positions at positions where the current position 40a of the vehicle 40 and the position in the vertical direction (traveling direction of the vehicle) are equal are respectively taken as a horizontal position 41c and a horizontal position 42c.

  In selecting the adjacent preceding vehicle in the adjacent lane 51, other vehicles whose lateral positions 41c and 42c are within a predetermined range are extracted as candidates for the adjacent preceding vehicle. The predetermined range is determined based on the lane width of the road on which the vehicle 40 travels. Specifically, in Japan, the lane width of expressways is set at 3.5 m by the Road Construction Ordinance. Therefore, assuming that the own vehicle 40 is traveling in the center of the lane, the lower limit value L1 of the lateral positions 41c and 42c of the traveling tracks of the other vehicles 41 and 42 traveling on the adjacent lane 51 is 1.75 m. It can be said that the upper limit L2 is within the predetermined range of 5.25 m. That is, the lower limit L1 is set to half the lane width, and the upper limit L2 is set to the lower limit L1 plus the lane width (1.5 times the lane width).

  Thus, in order to extract the candidate of the adjacent preceding vehicle, the other vehicle 41 traveling near the end of the adjacent lane 51 is also extracted as the candidate of the adjacent preceding vehicle since the lateral position 41c is within the predetermined range. Then, among the extracted candidates, one having the smallest vertical distance between the current position 40a of the vehicle 40 and the current positions 41a and 42a of the other vehicles 41 and 42 is selected as the adjacent leading vehicle. That is, in FIG. 2, the other vehicle 41 is selected as the adjacent preceding vehicle.

  Subsequently, selection processing of an adjacent preceding vehicle in the case where there are other vehicles other than the adjacent lane 51 will be described using FIG. 3. In the own lane 50 in which the own vehicle 40 travels, there are another car 43 traveling in the right lane and another car 44 traveling in the vicinity of the center of the lane. In the adjacent lane 51 (right lane) on the right side of the own lane 50, there are other vehicles 45 traveling near the own lane 50 and other vehicles 46 traveling near the center of the lane. Further, in the far lane 52 which is the right lane of the adjacent lane 51, there are other vehicles 47 traveling near the adjacent lane 51. In FIG. 3, the current position 43a, 44a, 45a, 46a, 47a, the locus 43b, 44b, 45b, 46b, 47b, and the lateral position 43c, 44c for the other vehicles 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, respectively. , 45c, 46c, 47c are illustrated.

  In the own lane 50, the lateral positions 43c and 44c of the other vehicles 43 and 44 are smaller than the lower limit value L1, and thus are extracted as candidates for the own-lane preceding vehicle in the own lane 50. Then, the other vehicle 43 with the smallest vertical distance is selected as the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle.

  In the adjacent lane 51, since the lateral positions 45c and 46c of the other vehicle 45 and the other vehicle 46 are larger than the lower limit L1 and smaller than the upper limit L2, the other vehicle 45 and the other vehicle 46 are extracted as candidates of adjacent preceding vehicles. Ru. At this time, although the other vehicle 43 present in the own lane 50 exists closer to the adjacent lane 51, the lateral position 43c is a value smaller than the lower limit L1, and therefore is not extracted as a candidate for an adjacent preceding vehicle. Similarly, although the other vehicle 47 present in the far lane 52 travels in the vicinity of the adjacent lane 51, it is not extracted as a candidate for an adjacent preceding vehicle because the lateral position 47c has a value larger than the upper limit L2. Then, among the other vehicle 45 and the other vehicle 46 extracted as the candidate for the leading vehicle, the other vehicle 45 having the smallest vertical distance is selected as the adjacent leading vehicle. That is, although the other vehicle 46 travels near the center of the adjacent lane 51 than the other vehicle 45, the other vehicle 45 is selected as the adjacent preceding vehicle.

  Since the adjacent preceding vehicle is selected in this manner, the other vehicles traveling in the vicinity of the adjacent lane 51 such as the other vehicle 43 and the other vehicle 47 can be excluded from the candidates for the adjacent preceding vehicle. And although traveling near the center of the adjacent lane 51 among the candidates of adjacent preceding vehicles, it is possible to select the other vehicle 45 having a small vertical distance as the adjacent leading vehicle instead of the other vehicle 46 having a large vertical distance.

  Although FIG. 3 illustrates the lane on the right side of the own lane 50 as the adjacent lane 51 and selecting the adjacent preceding vehicle for the adjacent lane 51, the same process is performed on the left lane of the own lane 50. . Further, when the vehicle 40 travels in the central lane of a road with three lanes on one side, etc., the left and right lanes are set as adjacent lanes 51, respectively, and processing for selecting an adjacent preceding vehicle is performed.

  Here, a series of processes performed by the vehicle control device 10 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. 4. The process according to the flowchart of FIG. 4 is repeatedly executed every predetermined control cycle.

  First, detection information is acquired from the radar device 21 (S101), and processing is performed to set the preceding vehicle and the adjacent preceding vehicle for the own lane and the adjacent lane, respectively (S102). Subsequently, it is determined whether the driver has issued a lane change instruction (S103). If the lane change instruction has not been issued (S103: NO), it is determined whether there is a vehicle ahead of the host vehicle (S104). If there is a vehicle ahead of the host vehicle (S104: YES), follow-up control is performed to keep the distance to the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle constant (S105). If there is no vehicle ahead of the host vehicle (S104: NO), control is performed to set the vehicle speed to the set value (S106).

  If the lane change instruction has been issued (S103: NO), it is determined whether there is an adjacent preceding vehicle in the adjacent lane of the lane change destination (S107). If there is an adjacent preceding vehicle (S107: YES), control of the steering angle and control of the vehicle speed are performed to follow the adjacent preceding vehicle (S108). If there is no adjacent preceding vehicle, the steering 33 is operated to change the lane (S109), and the vehicle speed is set as a set value (S110), and a series of processing is ended.

  Subsequently, a subroutine related to the process of setting the leading vehicle in S102 in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, one of targets around the host vehicle acquired by the radar device 21 is selected (S201), and it is determined whether or not a trajectory can be generated for the target (S202). If a trajectory can be generated (S202: YES), a trajectory is generated (S203), and the lateral position is determined based on the trajectory. Then, it is determined whether the lateral position is less than the lower limit (S204). If the lateral position is less than the lower limit (S204: YES), the target is extracted as a candidate for a vehicle ahead of the host vehicle (S205). If the lateral position is not less than the lower limit (S204: NO), it is determined whether the lateral position is less than the upper limit (S206). If the lateral position is less than the upper limit value (S206: YES), the target is extracted as a candidate for an adjacent preceding vehicle (S207). If the lateral position is not less than the upper limit value (S206: NO), the target is likely to be located in a distant lane or the like, so that extraction as a candidate for an adjacent preceding vehicle is not performed. In addition, when it is not possible to generate a trajectory, similarly, the extraction as the own-lane preceding vehicle and the adjacent preceding vehicle is not performed. In addition, when a locus | trajectory is produced | generated, if the locus | trajectory is short and a horizontal position can not be acquired, it will remove | exclude from the extraction process as a candidate of a own traffic lane preceding vehicle and an adjacent preceding vehicle.

  Thus, after processing for extracting targets as candidates is performed, it is determined whether extraction processing has been performed for all targets for which the radar device 21 has detected the position (S208). If the extraction process has not been performed for all targets (S208: NO), the process of S201 is performed again.

  If extraction processing has been performed for all targets (S208: YES), the other vehicle extracted as a candidate for the vehicle ahead of the own vehicle is determined to be the vehicle ahead of the vehicle with the smallest vertical distance (S209). Similarly, with regard to other vehicles extracted as candidates for adjacent preceding vehicles, one having the smallest vertical distance is determined as the adjacent preceding vehicle (S210). Then, the subroutine of the preceding vehicle determination process is ended.

  With the above configuration, the vehicle control device 10 according to the present embodiment has the following effects.

  -In selecting an adjacent preceding vehicle, a vehicle whose lateral position based on the trajectories of other vehicles is within the upper and lower limit values based on the width of the adjacent lane is targeted for selection. Therefore, other vehicles traveling in a lane farther than the adjacent lane, and other vehicles traveling in the adjacent lane of the own lane, do not determine that they are traveling in the adjacent lane, and an adjacent preceding vehicle is accurately selected. can do.

  -In selecting an adjacent preceding vehicle, among the other vehicles whose horizontal position is the upper and lower limit value, the one with the smallest vertical distance to the own vehicle is selected as the adjacent preceding vehicle. By this processing, it is possible to prevent a situation in which another vehicle is not selected as an adjacent preceding vehicle when, for example, another vehicle with the smallest vertical distance travels in the vicinity of the end of the adjacent lane.

  -In the curve section of the road, etc., when determining the lateral position based on the current position of the vehicle and the current position of the other vehicle, the lateral position exceeds the upper limit value even though traveling in the adjacent lane It may fall below the lower limit. In the present embodiment, the trajectories of other vehicles are obtained, and the lateral position of the current vehicle position is used to determine whether the other vehicles are traveling in the adjacent lane. Therefore, even in the curved section of the road, it is possible to accurately determine the adjacent preceding vehicle.

  In the present embodiment, those that can not generate the trajectory are excluded from the selection targets as the preceding vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to suppress false determination of a vehicle parked on a road shoulder or the like or a road structure other than the vehicle as the leading vehicle, and the leading vehicle can be selected with high accuracy.

  -In the follow-up control, since the preceding vehicle and the adjacent preceding vehicle are selected, it is possible to quickly switch the object to be followed to the adjacent preceding vehicle when a lane change instruction is issued.

<Modification>
In the embodiment, the track is obtained for the other vehicle, but the track may not be obtained, and it may be determined based on the detected current position whether or not to set the vehicle ahead. In this case, it may be determined whether or not the lateral position based on the current position of the own vehicle and the other vehicle is within a predetermined range, and the candidates of the own vehicle and the adjacent vehicle may be extracted.

  In the embodiment, the upper and lower limit values of the lateral position are exemplified, but the upper and lower limit values are not limited to the exemplified values. Further, the upper and lower limit values may be set to be variable. Specifically, the lane width or the type of the road may be acquired from map information provided in a car navigation device or the like provided in the own vehicle, and the upper and lower limit values may be set based on them.

  In setting the upper and lower limit values of the lateral position, when the vehicle includes the imaging device, the upper and lower limit values may be set based on the lane width acquired by the imaging device. In this case, when the lane line can be detected by the imaging device, the lane in which the other vehicle travels is specified based on the lane line, and the lane line is held when the lane line can not be detected. The lane in which the other vehicle travels may be specified based on the vehicle width. If only one of the division lines for the lane in which the vehicle is traveling can be detected, it is assumed that the vehicle is traveling in the middle of the lane, and the value twice the distance between the vehicle and division line It should be taken as the line width of the car.

  In setting the upper and lower limit values of the lateral position, communication with another vehicle may be performed to acquire information on the lane width from the other vehicle. Further, lane width information may be acquired from a management station or the like that manages road traffic information.

  In the embodiment, when selecting the own vehicle preceding vehicle and the adjacent preceding vehicle, the vehicle with the smallest vertical distance is selected, but the vehicle with the smallest relative distance instead of the vertical distance may be selected.

  In the embodiment, one lane leading vehicle and one adjacent lane are selected in each lane, but a plurality of lanes may be selected in each lane. In this case, while the preceding vehicle with the smallest vertical distance is the target of the follow-up control, other vehicles located farther than the preceding vehicle are also selected as the preceding vehicle. By doing this, when the preceding vehicle subject to the follow-up control changes lanes etc., another preceding vehicle can be immediately taken as the target of the follow-up control, and the responsiveness of control can be improved.

  In the embodiment, the radar device 21 is used as the distance measuring device. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any configuration such as a locator, an image sensor, or a lidar can be used. The image sensor may be a compound eye camera such as a stereo camera.

  -In embodiment, although the vehicle control apparatus 10 was made to perform the function of ACC, the function of a vehicle control apparatus is not restricted to ACC. LCS (Lane Change Support) that warns the driver when the driver changes lanes or restricts lane changes, TJA (Traffic Jam Assist) that automates low-speed driving in traffic jams, and the distance between vehicles ahead is reduced In this case, functions such as PCS (Pre Crash Safety) may be executed to operate a brake or the like to avoid a collision or reduce a collision damage. A car selection process may be used. In the embodiment, the driver drives the vehicle on which the vehicle control device 10 is mounted. However, the vehicle control device 10 has an automatic driving function, and the vehicle according to the embodiment has an automatic driving function. A vehicle control device may be mounted.

  In each embodiment, the engine 31 is provided as a drive source of the vehicle, but a hybrid vehicle provided with a drive motor in addition to the engine 31 and an electric vehicle provided with only a drive motor as a drive source are also provided. The same applies.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Vehicle control apparatus, 11 ... Trajectory production | generation part, 12 ... Position acquisition part, 13 ... Leading vehicle selection part, 14 ... Follow-up control part, 15 ... Lane change part.

Claims (7)

A position acquisition unit (12) for acquiring a relative distance from the host vehicle and a lateral position which is a relative position in a direction orthogonal to the heading direction of the host vehicle with respect to a preceding vehicle traveling in the forward direction of the host vehicle;
Among the preceding vehicles, the vehicle travels within the range defined by the upper limit value and the lower limit value based on the width of the lane and in which the relative distance to the vehicle is the smallest. The vehicle adjacent to the lane is selected as an adjacent preceding vehicle, and among the preceding vehicles, the one whose lateral position is smaller than the lower limit and whose relative distance to the own vehicle is the smallest is the vehicle When both preceding vehicles of the adjacent preceding vehicle and the preceding vehicle are present by selecting the lane in which the vehicle is traveling as the own vehicle preceding vehicle, the state where both preceding vehicles are set A preceding vehicle selection unit (13)
A vehicle control device (10). The system further comprises a trajectory generation unit (11) that acquires the position of the preceding vehicle a plurality of times at a predetermined cycle, and generates the trajectory of the preceding vehicle according to the position.
The vehicle control according to claim 1, wherein the position acquisition unit acquires the lateral position at a point where the relative position in the traveling direction of the vehicle in the trajectory generated by the trajectory generation unit is equal to the current position of the vehicle. apparatus.   The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the preceding vehicle selection unit acquires the width of the lane, and sets the range based on the acquired width.   The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the relative distance is a distance in a traveling direction of the vehicle. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , further comprising a follow-up control unit (14) that causes the own vehicle to follow the own-lane preceding vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selection unit and travel. The vehicle further comprises a lane change unit (15) that detects a lane change in the vehicle.
The vehicle control device according to claim 5 , wherein the follow-up control unit changes the follow target to the adjacent preceding vehicle when a lane change is detected. A vehicle control method executed by a vehicle control device (10) mounted on a vehicle, comprising:
A position acquisition step of acquiring a relative distance from the host vehicle and a lateral position, which is a relative position in a direction orthogonal to the host vehicle, of a preceding vehicle traveling forward in the traveling direction of the host vehicle;
Among the preceding vehicles, the vehicle travels within the range defined by the upper limit value and the lower limit value based on the width of the lane and in which the relative distance to the vehicle is the smallest. The vehicle adjacent to the lane is selected as an adjacent preceding vehicle, and among the preceding vehicles, the one whose lateral position is smaller than the lower limit and whose relative distance to the own vehicle is the smallest is the vehicle When both preceding vehicles of the adjacent preceding vehicle and the preceding vehicle are present by selecting the lane in which the vehicle is traveling as the own vehicle preceding vehicle, the state where both preceding vehicles are set The preceding vehicle selection step to be
Vehicle control method to perform.

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